I think the nails in the coffin with my Secret Weapons theory. It has it's debatable facts and it's solid facts. All good points on your part though. But in the end, since it's just a farfetched theory, I'd just consider it that. A "possible" plan, but not the most likely.
Here's some more blunders I added to my original post:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ferich
Commanding the war personally. Political leaders should focus on politics. The more deeply involved politicians get in the running of a military operation the more screwed up that operation usually gets.
Another blunder was in Hitler using Methamphetamines,etc. A lot of the flawed decision-making going on outright delusion was probably a result of Hitler's addiction to Meth, or at least was aggravated by it.
Blitzing all of the way to the Dunkirk beachead would certainly have improved his situation, but wouldn't have been a knockout blow. It would have cost the British a lot of experienced troops but they could have come back from it, given time.
Keeping the pressure on the front line airfields and radar stations along the south coast of England during the Battle of Britain would have made a huge difference, perhaps enough to be decisive. Especially if combined with crushing the beachead at dunkirk, England could potentially have been taken out of the war.
Not concentrating on North Africa and the mediteranean in 1941 was another big mistake. This of course assumes that he was unable to invade England successfully. Taking control of this area would have done three things. It would have secured vital petrolium reserves which would have meant plenty of fuel for combat operations, plenty of petrolium for manufacturing fertilizer and for making propellants too. Securing the mediteranean, especially Gibraltar and the Suez Canal would have further isolated England from her colonies and would have helped out the Italian fleet. Also it would have allowed Germany and Japan to join forces. Together they could have shut down the lend-lease pipeline to the Soviet Union with ease and begun the process of crushing the Soviets. A small note: although it is huge the Soviet Union was never able to feed itself or exploit its resources efficiently. Unless significant reforms were made, it would have collapsed. Even with massive ongoing economic assistance from the west it eventually collapsed anyway.
The lack of petrolium lost in blundered conflicts may also explain the German failure to field the Me 262 ( other vehicles that eat up fuel ), since jet engines burn a lot more fuel than proeller planes and would have made supply issues more difficult. Also the critical shortage of tungsten which is needed to withstand the high temperatures of a jet engine.
One of Hitlers big blunders was that he had developed a contemptuous attitude toward the Soviets based on reports from German "volunteers" serving with Finnland during the Winter War between the Finns and Soviets between '39 and 40. After their humiliation at the hands of the Finns, Hitler assumed that the Soviets could be crushed without difficulty. Which of course, caused two fronts.
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